Below is an annotated list of children's literature for the elementary classroom. The books are organized by the Six Elements of Social Justice Curriculum Design (Picower, 2007). It is based on work by pre-service teachers at Montclair State University. They have read and reviewed these books and provided insights into how they can be used in K-5 settings.

“One Thousand Paper
Cranes: The Story of Sadako and the
Children’s Peace Statue” is a non-fiction chapter book for students in 4th
– 6th grade about a young girl in Hiroshima named Sadako. Sadako was just two years old when the atomic
bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Ten years
later, Sadako Sasaki died from leukemia resulting from exposure to the bomb. Sadako's determination to fold one thousand
paper cranes and her courageous struggle with her illness inspired everyone
that knew her. This story tells of the
Japanese national campaign, initiated by Sadako’s classmates, to build the
Children's Peace Statue honoring Sadako and the hundreds of other children who
died as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima. On top of the statue is a girl, modeled after
Sadako, holding a large folded crane in her outstretched arms. Today in Hiroshima
Peace Memorial Park this statue of Sadako is beautifully decorated with
thousands of paper cranes given by people throughout the world as a symbol of world peace.

Element Five:
Raising Awareness

This book is an excellent example of Element Five because it shows two
specific examples of students coming together to raise awareness of the importance
of world peace by remembering those who have died as a result of war. This book goes beyond the traditional telling
of Sadako and her paper cranes by explaining how the author’s son was read the
traditional story in his classroom, and as a result, the class decided to raise
money for the American Children’s Peace Statue.
Just as the children in the original story had come together to raise
funds for the statue, the students of Arroyo del Oso Elementary school in
Albuquerque, NM, raised funds for five years.
As a result, they were able to build a statue, “Our Hope For a Peaceful
Future” in August of 1995, on the fiftieth anniversary of the dropping of the
bomb.

Follow Up Activity

Have the class create a string of one hundred paper cranes to send to the Children's Peace Monument and have their class named on the Paper Crane data base.

Anyone may place paper cranes to the Children's Peace Monument
in Peace Memorial Park. However, if you are unable to go to the park, they will
be happy to offer your cranes to the monument on your behalf. Please send your
cranes to the following address. In addition, they would like to enter your name
and message for peace into the Paper Crane Database. In this way, your desire
for peace will be recorded for posterity. For this purpose, please fill out
this registration
form and send it back to this address with your paper cranes: